Naidu compares Jagan Reddy to Pablo Escobar over Andhra drug menace

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Thursday compared his rival YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, as he slammed him over the the state of law and order and alleged drug menace during the previous YSRCP regime.

Releasing a white paper on law and order and ganja (marijuana) prevalence, Naidu claimed that he never saw such a situation like how it was when Reddy, the YSRCP chief, ruled during the past five years.

"Only one person can be compared to what happened in Andhra, and it is Pablo Escobar," he said in the Assembly, in an apparent reference to the drug menace.

The CM further said that Escobar was a drug lord who illegally sold drugs worth billions of dollars and also went on to kill leaders and politicians who opposed him.

Calling Escobar a "narco-terrorist", Naidu alleged that a similar situation had emerged in Andhra Pradesh under the YSRCP regime (2019-24) when ganja was allegedly freely available.

The CM alleged that the southern state had emerged as ganja capital between 2019 and 2024 and vowed to crack down on it.